Status
Available
Series
Genres
Collection
Publication
Dutton (2015), 480 pages
Description
"The #1 New York Times bestselling author's latest stand-alone thriller, with a cameo by her fan-favorite character, Boston Detective D.D. Warren. My name is Nicky Frank. Except, most likely, it isn't. Nicole Frank shouldn't have been able to survive the car accident, much less crawl up the steep ravine. Not in the dark, not in the rain, not with her injuries. But one thought allows her to defy the odds and flag down help: Vero. I'm looking for a little girl. I have to save her. Except, most likely, she doesn't exist. Sergeant Wyatt Foster is frustrated when even the search dogs can't find any trace of the mysterious missing child. Until Nicky's husband, Thomas, arrives with a host of shattering revelations: Nicole Frank suffers from a rare brain injury and the police shouldn't trust anything she says. My husband claims he'll do anything to save me. Except, most likely, he can't. Who is Nicky Frank, and what happened the night her car sailed off the road? Was it a random accident or something more sinister given the woman's lack of family and no close friends? The deeper Wyatt digs, the more concerned he becomes. Because it turns out, in the past few months, Nicky has suffered from more than one close accident. In fact, it would appear someone very much wants her dead. This is my life. Except, most likely, it's not. Now watch me crash and burn"--… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member DPLyle
Publisher: Dutton Adult
Pub Date: February 3, 2015
ISBN-10: 0525954562
ISBN-13: 978-0525954569
400 pages
Review:
Who is Nicole “Nicky” Frank? Is that even her name? Is she crazy? Does she indeed have traumatic brain syndrome from the multiple head injuries she has recently suffered? And who is Vero?
And these are the questions Sergeant Wyatt Foster must answer. Brought to the scene of a single car accident, where Nicki rolled her SUV down an embankment, he quickly realizes nothing is at it seems. This disturbing and convoluted thriller will capture readers early and drag them along to the final page. Highly recommended.
DP Lyle, award-winning author of the Samantha Cody and Dub Walker thriller series
Pub Date: February 3, 2015
ISBN-10: 0525954562
ISBN-13: 978-0525954569
400 pages
Review:
Who is Nicole “Nicky” Frank? Is that even her name? Is she crazy? Does she indeed have traumatic brain syndrome from the multiple head injuries she has recently suffered? And who is Vero?
Show More
A long lost daughter? A figment of Nicki’s imagination? And is her husband Thomas who he says he is? Is he her guardian or her worst enemy? These are the questions Lisa Gardner, the queen of the psychological thriller, poses in Crash and Burn. And these are the questions Sergeant Wyatt Foster must answer. Brought to the scene of a single car accident, where Nicki rolled her SUV down an embankment, he quickly realizes nothing is at it seems. This disturbing and convoluted thriller will capture readers early and drag them along to the final page. Highly recommended.
DP Lyle, award-winning author of the Samantha Cody and Dub Walker thriller series
Show Less
LibraryThing member SamSattler
Lisa Gardner’s new psychological novel Crash & Burn is the kind of book that Alfred Hitchcock might have jumped all over during his moviemaking heyday. This one is filled with so many plot twists and surprises that the reader is kept off balance all the way to the book’s final pages. And, Nicky
When Nicky Frank regains consciousness and realizes that she has run off a remote New Hampshire highway and is trapped in her car, she has only one concern: her daughter. Where is Vero? She’s not in the car, and even the search dog brought to the scene of the accident can’t find the little girl. Now it is up to Sergeant Wyatt Foster to find her before it is too late. But, as Sgt. Foster is soon to learn, all is not as it seems, because according to Nicky’s husband, there is no little girl. She does not exist.
According to Thomas Frank, his wife has suffered three concussions in the past six months, leading to the kind of head trauma in which she still sometimes has difficulty telling the difference between reality and dreams. Being the good cop that he is, when he hears “three concussions in six months,” Wyatt Foster immediately begins to suspect that Thomas Frank just might be the villain of the piece. Is the man, in fact, trying to kill his wife?
Thus begins a rollercoaster ride during which Nicky desperately tries to tell the difference between what is real and what is not. Is Thomas the husband who pledged to protect his wife with his own life if need be, or is he the husband she sometimes believes she has reason to fear and mistrust? Who is Vero and why can’t Nicky get her out of her head? Without help from someone she can trust, Nicky may never find the answers to any of the questions being thrown at her by Wyatt Foster and the New Hampshire North Country Sheriff’s Criminal Investigations Division. Wyatt, still not sure if he is dealing with a criminal or a victim in the person of Nicky Frank, is determined to get to the truth – and he may just turn out to be one of the few friends Nicky has.
Crash & Burn is both psychological thriller and police procedural, and it will add to the positive reputation that Lisa Gardner has already earned with her eight-book Detective D.D. Warren series and her FBI Profiler and Tessa Leoni series. In Crash & Burn, as she sometimes does, Gardner mixes the characters from the different series into her story. This time around, P.I. Tessa Leoni works closely with Wyatt Foster to solve the Nicky Frank case, and D.D. Warren even manages a cameo appearance of her own. Lisa Gardner fans will be pleased.
Show More
Frank, Gardner’s main character who is also one of the book’s narrators, takes the “unreliable narrator” device to the extreme, something Hitchcock would have loved.When Nicky Frank regains consciousness and realizes that she has run off a remote New Hampshire highway and is trapped in her car, she has only one concern: her daughter. Where is Vero? She’s not in the car, and even the search dog brought to the scene of the accident can’t find the little girl. Now it is up to Sergeant Wyatt Foster to find her before it is too late. But, as Sgt. Foster is soon to learn, all is not as it seems, because according to Nicky’s husband, there is no little girl. She does not exist.
According to Thomas Frank, his wife has suffered three concussions in the past six months, leading to the kind of head trauma in which she still sometimes has difficulty telling the difference between reality and dreams. Being the good cop that he is, when he hears “three concussions in six months,” Wyatt Foster immediately begins to suspect that Thomas Frank just might be the villain of the piece. Is the man, in fact, trying to kill his wife?
Thus begins a rollercoaster ride during which Nicky desperately tries to tell the difference between what is real and what is not. Is Thomas the husband who pledged to protect his wife with his own life if need be, or is he the husband she sometimes believes she has reason to fear and mistrust? Who is Vero and why can’t Nicky get her out of her head? Without help from someone she can trust, Nicky may never find the answers to any of the questions being thrown at her by Wyatt Foster and the New Hampshire North Country Sheriff’s Criminal Investigations Division. Wyatt, still not sure if he is dealing with a criminal or a victim in the person of Nicky Frank, is determined to get to the truth – and he may just turn out to be one of the few friends Nicky has.
Crash & Burn is both psychological thriller and police procedural, and it will add to the positive reputation that Lisa Gardner has already earned with her eight-book Detective D.D. Warren series and her FBI Profiler and Tessa Leoni series. In Crash & Burn, as she sometimes does, Gardner mixes the characters from the different series into her story. This time around, P.I. Tessa Leoni works closely with Wyatt Foster to solve the Nicky Frank case, and D.D. Warren even manages a cameo appearance of her own. Lisa Gardner fans will be pleased.
Show Less
LibraryThing member atticusfinch1048
Crash & Burn – Highly Addictive Psychological Thriller
Crash & Burn is the highly addictive psychological thriller by Lisa Gardner that draws you in like a drug dealer and keeps you hooked all the way to the end. It would be easy to dash out all the great clichés as they would all be applicable
Nicky Frank is found at the side of the road after her car has crashed in to a ravine and is taken to hospital as she is being put in to the back of the ambulance she asks them to find Vero. New Hampshire Police Sergeant Wyatt Foster is the investigating officer and when he gets to hospital he encounters Nicky’s husband Thomas. Thomas explains that this is her third concussive injury in six months and she is traumatised and is highly protect towards his wife of twenty-two years.
As the investigation continues and with help from PI Tessa Leoni he slowly tries to draw out the truth from Nicky and can they really discover what the Franks are hiding. With many curved balls they realise that Nicky somewhere has been a victim of something traumatic and all things seem to point towards her husband. At the same time they need to discover who Vero is and where she is, and what the secret that is being hidden is.
At first Crash and Burn seems to be about just a car crash but as you get further in to the story the hidden story is slowly revealed to the reader but still left to guess who Vero is and the significance she plays with Nicky. There are plenty of twists and turns some of which are totally unexpected and that continues all the way until the end of the book.
Lisa Gardner has written a brilliant psychological thriller that really gets under your skin and as a reader you cannot predict how the story will end. Crash and Burn throws up many surprises the twists you do not see coming and the one question of who is Nicky Frank is prolonged throughout the book. That one question alone drives you on because you really hope Vero is alive somewhere and not just in Nicky’s mind. Highly addictive, brilliantly written really does get in your psyche Crash and Burn is a masterpiece written by a writer who knows how to engage with the reader. Lisa Gardner with Crash and Burn shows why she has a devoted following and that she is one of the best thriller writers who gives her best in every book.
Crash & Burn is the highly addictive psychological thriller by Lisa Gardner that draws you in like a drug dealer and keeps you hooked all the way to the end. It would be easy to dash out all the great clichés as they would all be applicable
Show More
to Crash & Burn but still not do the book justice I could use all the superlatives in the world and still not be able to explain how addictive and how brilliant Crash & Burn is. Lisa Gardner has written a compulsive, addictive, pulsating psychological thriller that you just keep turning the page as you need to know what happens to Nicky Frank. This was my first Lisa Gardner thriller and I can guarantee after Crash and Burn it will not be my last.Nicky Frank is found at the side of the road after her car has crashed in to a ravine and is taken to hospital as she is being put in to the back of the ambulance she asks them to find Vero. New Hampshire Police Sergeant Wyatt Foster is the investigating officer and when he gets to hospital he encounters Nicky’s husband Thomas. Thomas explains that this is her third concussive injury in six months and she is traumatised and is highly protect towards his wife of twenty-two years.
As the investigation continues and with help from PI Tessa Leoni he slowly tries to draw out the truth from Nicky and can they really discover what the Franks are hiding. With many curved balls they realise that Nicky somewhere has been a victim of something traumatic and all things seem to point towards her husband. At the same time they need to discover who Vero is and where she is, and what the secret that is being hidden is.
At first Crash and Burn seems to be about just a car crash but as you get further in to the story the hidden story is slowly revealed to the reader but still left to guess who Vero is and the significance she plays with Nicky. There are plenty of twists and turns some of which are totally unexpected and that continues all the way until the end of the book.
Lisa Gardner has written a brilliant psychological thriller that really gets under your skin and as a reader you cannot predict how the story will end. Crash and Burn throws up many surprises the twists you do not see coming and the one question of who is Nicky Frank is prolonged throughout the book. That one question alone drives you on because you really hope Vero is alive somewhere and not just in Nicky’s mind. Highly addictive, brilliantly written really does get in your psyche Crash and Burn is a masterpiece written by a writer who knows how to engage with the reader. Lisa Gardner with Crash and Burn shows why she has a devoted following and that she is one of the best thriller writers who gives her best in every book.
Show Less
LibraryThing member susiesharp
Man alive this woman knows how to write a I can't put this down, edge of my seat thriller. I devoured this book in one day I could not stop reading.
This book once again features Tessa Leoni and Wyatt and also features DD Warren in an interesting side story which makes me anxious for the next DD
This was such a different story, it kept me guessing even though I was able to figure out a couple things that didn't stop my complete enjoyment of this book.
Is it memory or delusion or a bit of both? What do you do when you can't trust your own mind and what it is telling you about your life? We have a completely and wholly unreliable narrator in Nicky Frank the book starts out with a car crash and her complete belief that a little girl named Vero needs saving and was with her but does Vero even exist? Nicky doesn’t seem to know what is real, what is a memory or is it a delusion, she has had 3 concussions in a short amount of time and her brain is mixed up she keeps looking for the girl Vero is she lost, gone, dead or just a figment of her imagination. Was Nicky her savior or her killer? And what of Nicky’s husband Thomas is he the caring husband he seems to be or is there more behind the 3 “accidents” that have happened to Nicky, her car crash being just the latest.
This case starts out with a bang and gets weirder and weirder and poor Wyatt can’t seem to make heads or tails out of the information he is being given by Nicky while he investigates her car accident. Hopefully Tessa can help him out but she seems a little on edge and won’t tell Wyatt what is going on however they do work well together as they did on the last case that they have to put their personal feelings aside to try to get to the bottom of this very odd case. They even bring DD in to help them out.
This book will grab on and not let you go but that’s okay, just hang on, and enjoy the ride. Lisa Gardner does it again with another fantastic thriller!
5 Stars
I received this book from Netgalley and the publisher for a fair and honest review.
This book once again features Tessa Leoni and Wyatt and also features DD Warren in an interesting side story which makes me anxious for the next DD
Show More
book to see where her life goes after this book. We also get an update on Bobby Dodge & Annabelle.This was such a different story, it kept me guessing even though I was able to figure out a couple things that didn't stop my complete enjoyment of this book.
Is it memory or delusion or a bit of both? What do you do when you can't trust your own mind and what it is telling you about your life? We have a completely and wholly unreliable narrator in Nicky Frank the book starts out with a car crash and her complete belief that a little girl named Vero needs saving and was with her but does Vero even exist? Nicky doesn’t seem to know what is real, what is a memory or is it a delusion, she has had 3 concussions in a short amount of time and her brain is mixed up she keeps looking for the girl Vero is she lost, gone, dead or just a figment of her imagination. Was Nicky her savior or her killer? And what of Nicky’s husband Thomas is he the caring husband he seems to be or is there more behind the 3 “accidents” that have happened to Nicky, her car crash being just the latest.
This case starts out with a bang and gets weirder and weirder and poor Wyatt can’t seem to make heads or tails out of the information he is being given by Nicky while he investigates her car accident. Hopefully Tessa can help him out but she seems a little on edge and won’t tell Wyatt what is going on however they do work well together as they did on the last case that they have to put their personal feelings aside to try to get to the bottom of this very odd case. They even bring DD in to help them out.
This book will grab on and not let you go but that’s okay, just hang on, and enjoy the ride. Lisa Gardner does it again with another fantastic thriller!
5 Stars
I received this book from Netgalley and the publisher for a fair and honest review.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Virginia51
I had a hard time putting this down. There were so many twist a d turns.i was surprised by the ending in some ways and some ways I began to suspect what was going on.loved the characters. Hope more keep coming out. I received a free copy from FirsttoRead for a fair and honest opinion.
LibraryThing member Conkie
As good as you can get in suspense and mystery. Not very often have I devoted a day to read a book, but this one kept calling me to pick it back up. Well worth your time!
LibraryThing member susan0316
I am a big fan of Lisa Gardner and have enjoyed all of her books. This book was enjoyable but was not one of my favorites. I enjoyed the suspense but the characters got a bit tiring about half way through the book. Plus there were a lot of references to past books that I couldn't remember that made
Show More
it all confusing. I would still recommend it because even with its flaws its way better than a lot of books that are available currently. Show Less
LibraryThing member MarlaAMadison
Lisa Gardner is one of my very favorite writers and this novel did not let me down! I thought the details of the car crash combined with what was happening with Nicky was enthralling. DD Warren and Tessa Leone together again, was something Gardner fans have been waiting for. Hope to see more of
Great suspense read, highly recommend.
Show More
those two paired together!Great suspense read, highly recommend.
Show Less
LibraryThing member EdGoldberg
OK, I’ll start out by saying I really liked Crash & Burn by CrashBurnLisa Gardner. Although I don’t remember it, I did read Catch Me a few years ago and liked it. But while I gave that 3 stars, Crash & Burn I’ll give 5 stars to. Lisa Gardner really knows how to tell a story and build
The call came in to Sergeant Wyatt Foster at 5 AM. A single car accident. An Audi plowed off the road and took a nose dive. Single occupant. At the scene, it is learned that the driver’s name is Nicole Frank. In a daze, she says she must find six year old Vero. A thorough search of the area reveals no one. The search dog can only find the scent of one person. It totally baffles Wyatt and his partner Kevin, the Brain.
The investigation of the events leading up to the accident raise more questions than answers. That’s all I’m going to tell you about the plot.
Crash & Burn is action packed. While the writing is good, it does not have the literary style of say, Thomas H. Cook. It is not chock full of descriptions of the landscape and what everyone is wearing. However, Gardner weaves a great story and that is what makes you want to keep reading. Readers will immediately take to the characters. They’ll get caught up in their lives. They’ll want to unravel the mystery.
If you’re anything like me, you won’t want to put Crash & Burn down.
Show More
suspense. It certainly does have some major twists and turns.The call came in to Sergeant Wyatt Foster at 5 AM. A single car accident. An Audi plowed off the road and took a nose dive. Single occupant. At the scene, it is learned that the driver’s name is Nicole Frank. In a daze, she says she must find six year old Vero. A thorough search of the area reveals no one. The search dog can only find the scent of one person. It totally baffles Wyatt and his partner Kevin, the Brain.
The investigation of the events leading up to the accident raise more questions than answers. That’s all I’m going to tell you about the plot.
Crash & Burn is action packed. While the writing is good, it does not have the literary style of say, Thomas H. Cook. It is not chock full of descriptions of the landscape and what everyone is wearing. However, Gardner weaves a great story and that is what makes you want to keep reading. Readers will immediately take to the characters. They’ll get caught up in their lives. They’ll want to unravel the mystery.
If you’re anything like me, you won’t want to put Crash & Burn down.
Show Less
LibraryThing member JudithDCollins
A special thank you to Grand Central Publishing and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
THE FORGOTTEN GIRLS, (Louise Rick / Camilla Lind #7) by Sara Blaedel is a chilling crime suspense mystery page-turner, leaving you turning into the wee hours of the morning.
Former Copenhagen
However, the first case, is haunting and brings her back to her own nightmares she has tried to forget. A dead girl has been found in the woods; however, no one has reported the victim missing. Even more disturbing, the girl died over 30 years ago.
When investigating further to a sanitarium for the mentally handicapped when was closed years ago, Louise discovers there was a twin sister, who may still be alive.
Louise works with her new partner, Eik Nordstrom which leads them down a devastating and twisted path, which intersects with Louise’s troubled past.
This was my first book by Blaedel and am now curious about the previous books in the series (I always seem to start with the latest and work my way backward). An intriguing mystery with the two girls, and the connection with main character; a nice set up and execution.
I am a huge fan of crime writers, New Zealand’s Paul Cleave and Scandinavian, Thomas Enger . Blaedel is not in this class, in my opinion; however, enjoyed the novel and look forward to reading more.
THE FORGOTTEN GIRLS, (Louise Rick / Camilla Lind #7) by Sara Blaedel is a chilling crime suspense mystery page-turner, leaving you turning into the wee hours of the morning.
Former Copenhagen
Show More
homicide detective Louise Rick has just been appointed technical manager of the Special Search Agency, a division of Denmark's Search Department, responsible for investigating unsolved missing-person cases.However, the first case, is haunting and brings her back to her own nightmares she has tried to forget. A dead girl has been found in the woods; however, no one has reported the victim missing. Even more disturbing, the girl died over 30 years ago.
When investigating further to a sanitarium for the mentally handicapped when was closed years ago, Louise discovers there was a twin sister, who may still be alive.
Louise works with her new partner, Eik Nordstrom which leads them down a devastating and twisted path, which intersects with Louise’s troubled past.
This was my first book by Blaedel and am now curious about the previous books in the series (I always seem to start with the latest and work my way backward). An intriguing mystery with the two girls, and the connection with main character; a nice set up and execution.
I am a huge fan of crime writers, New Zealand’s Paul Cleave and Scandinavian, Thomas Enger . Blaedel is not in this class, in my opinion; however, enjoyed the novel and look forward to reading more.
Show Less
LibraryThing member mikedraper
Welcome to the world of brain injured Nicky Frank. Her car sails off the road and crashes into a ravine. Then she clamors out of the car, surrounded by broken glass and the smell of Glenlivet Scotch. Nicky reaches the highway and when help arrives, all she can think of is 'Where's Viro?"
Nicky's
Sgt. Foster has been in a relationship with Tessa Leoni who works with Northridge Investigations. Foster learns that Nicky has contacted them to help find a woman who was a key to her past. They also begin to doubt the veracity of Thomas's responses to their questions.
The story's pacing is excellent as, with Wyatt and Kevin help her remember things from her past. Tessa also helps and becomes an advocate for Nicky. It is during this time that Thomas disappears.
Nicky is determined to learn about her past while dealing with her traumatic brain injury.
The fast moving psychological thriller will keep the reader going while trying to discover what really happened in Nicky's past and the real story behind Nicky and Thomas's relationship.
With a contemporary theme of dealing with traumatic brain injuries, the reader learns how hard it is to deal with this invisible malady and empathy builds for those attempting to cope with it.
Nicky's
Show More
story is the center of the book. It's packed with as many surprises as a carton of Crackerjax. The first bombshell comes when police Sergeant Wyatt Foster and Detective Kevin Santos attempt to question Nicky's husband Thomas. When they ask about his child, Vero, Thomas laughs and tells them that they have no children. He adds that Nicky has had a number of brain injuries and as a result, her memory is unsound and she often gets mixed up.Sgt. Foster has been in a relationship with Tessa Leoni who works with Northridge Investigations. Foster learns that Nicky has contacted them to help find a woman who was a key to her past. They also begin to doubt the veracity of Thomas's responses to their questions.
The story's pacing is excellent as, with Wyatt and Kevin help her remember things from her past. Tessa also helps and becomes an advocate for Nicky. It is during this time that Thomas disappears.
Nicky is determined to learn about her past while dealing with her traumatic brain injury.
The fast moving psychological thriller will keep the reader going while trying to discover what really happened in Nicky's past and the real story behind Nicky and Thomas's relationship.
With a contemporary theme of dealing with traumatic brain injuries, the reader learns how hard it is to deal with this invisible malady and empathy builds for those attempting to cope with it.
Show Less
LibraryThing member busyreadin
Very complicated mystery. Who is Vero and what happened to her? What starts as a simple traffic accident turns into an attempt to solve a 30 year old kidnapping case.
LibraryThing member she_climber
This was probably my least favorite Lisa Gardner book, but I'm going to place the blame mostly on the narrators. I listened to an audio version and I found it grating at times. I seriously considered DNF'ing this book and moving on but I stuck it out. It did eventually get better, or curiosity got
Show More
the better of me and I just wanted to know "the scoop" and I finished it. However, I have to say I was glad it was over and I could move on to the next book. I'll keep reading Lisa Gardner books though. You can't hit them all out of the park. Show Less
LibraryThing member grumpydan
From the car crash, to the supposedly missing girl, the woman who drinks too much and the husband who may or may not be hiding something makes this novel one hell of a page tuner. I have to say I couldn’t figure out the plot and it intrigued me. The pace was faced, the characters realistic and
Show More
over all I was entertained and satisfied. Show Less
LibraryThing member thehistorychic
Read for Fun/Listened for Review (Library/Brilliance Audio)
Overall Rating: 4.50
Story Rating: 4.75
Character Rating: 4.25
Audio Rating: 4.00 (not part of the overall rating)
First Thought when Finished: Oh what a tangled web Crash & Burn by Lisa Gardner weaved and there was more than once that I was
Quick Thoughts: I really like Lisa Gardner's storytelling abilities. She makes characters shine and stories twist. In Crash & Burn (possibly my favorite by her) she did both outstandingly. The character arc for Nicole is not one that I saw coming. Neither was the one for her husband. You think you know but trust me you have NO CLUE! The mystery was intense but at the same time you are tricked into thinking it is solved. Then BAM you are hit with another turn. Really I was just knocked back by how many times the story swerved and yet it never went to far (you know what I am talking about: that one swerve to many syndrome). If you like gritty, goose-bump inducing thrillers then this one is for you!
Audio Thoughts:
Narrated By Christina Traister, Mikael Naramore / Length: 13 hrs and 27 mins
Both of these narrators were new to me and they both delivered well. They will both go on my to listen to again list. They had great pacing that kept up with the story and slowed down when needed (yet not to slow). They managed to bridge each other in narration and compliment each other well. Well DONE!
Part of my Read It, Rate It, File It, DONE! Reviews
PS: I had to pick up the book at the library because I scratched my next to last disk. I was not going to miss a moment of this story!
Overall Rating: 4.50
Story Rating: 4.75
Character Rating: 4.25
Audio Rating: 4.00 (not part of the overall rating)
First Thought when Finished: Oh what a tangled web Crash & Burn by Lisa Gardner weaved and there was more than once that I was
Show More
deceived! Bravo Lisa BRAVO!Quick Thoughts: I really like Lisa Gardner's storytelling abilities. She makes characters shine and stories twist. In Crash & Burn (possibly my favorite by her) she did both outstandingly. The character arc for Nicole is not one that I saw coming. Neither was the one for her husband. You think you know but trust me you have NO CLUE! The mystery was intense but at the same time you are tricked into thinking it is solved. Then BAM you are hit with another turn. Really I was just knocked back by how many times the story swerved and yet it never went to far (you know what I am talking about: that one swerve to many syndrome). If you like gritty, goose-bump inducing thrillers then this one is for you!
Audio Thoughts:
Narrated By Christina Traister, Mikael Naramore / Length: 13 hrs and 27 mins
Both of these narrators were new to me and they both delivered well. They will both go on my to listen to again list. They had great pacing that kept up with the story and slowed down when needed (yet not to slow). They managed to bridge each other in narration and compliment each other well. Well DONE!
Part of my Read It, Rate It, File It, DONE! Reviews
PS: I had to pick up the book at the library because I scratched my next to last disk. I was not going to miss a moment of this story!
Show Less
LibraryThing member Dianekeenoy
An excellent audiobook by Lisa Gardener. This book made me look forward to driving. Very exciting, held my interest right through the end!
LibraryThing member Olivermagnus
Nicky Frank survives a horrible car crash in the early morning hours and manages to crawl up a hillside to flag down help. When the authorities arrive and she's being taken away in an ambulance, Nicky begs the medics and police officers to find her daughter, Vero. But police begin to question her
As the police dig further into Nicky's life, they realize the couple's stories don't add up. The car crash might have been deliberate, and Nicky has had an unlikely number of accidents. The investigators are suspicious but they have no idea that things will turn out to be even more complicated than they could ever imagine and the next few days will bring twists and turns to the case they never would have thought could be possible.
I enjoyed the book. It's just the type of dark psychological thriller that I love with plenty of twists and turns. It is a very complex mystery of a woman who can't remember her past but as her memory starts to return we are hurtled into a final showdown. The relationship between Nicky and her husband is well written and really adds to the atmosphere and the plot twists in the book. The reader never knows which characters are the bad guys. It's intriguing, heart-wrenching at times, terrifying at others, and just a really great read.
Show More
story when a tracking dog can find no evidence of anyone else being in the car. Her husband tells them the couple doesn't have a daughter and Nicky has created the memory due to a rare brain injury she sustained after falling down some stairs months earlier. She is suffering from post traumatic brain injury and her delusions seem to be getting worse.As the police dig further into Nicky's life, they realize the couple's stories don't add up. The car crash might have been deliberate, and Nicky has had an unlikely number of accidents. The investigators are suspicious but they have no idea that things will turn out to be even more complicated than they could ever imagine and the next few days will bring twists and turns to the case they never would have thought could be possible.
I enjoyed the book. It's just the type of dark psychological thriller that I love with plenty of twists and turns. It is a very complex mystery of a woman who can't remember her past but as her memory starts to return we are hurtled into a final showdown. The relationship between Nicky and her husband is well written and really adds to the atmosphere and the plot twists in the book. The reader never knows which characters are the bad guys. It's intriguing, heart-wrenching at times, terrifying at others, and just a really great read.
Show Less
LibraryThing member jeanniea
The book was a page turner. You think you have it all figured out. But the story just gets more indepth.. It was a good read.
LibraryThing member buffalogr
Slow and repetitive, I skipped listening in the middle to get at the end. Billed as a D.D. book, not much of her was heard. . I could not figure out the plot. Characters all mixed up. Good narration performance.
LibraryThing member LisCarey
A woman wakes up in a hospital, injured, and has amnesia. They tell her that her name is Nicole Frank. There's a man whom they tell her is her husband, Thomas Frank. She crashed her car off a steep embankment, and she crawled out of her car, and climbed the embankment, looking for a little girl,
Some of this is true.
Nikki Frank has just had her third concussion in six months, and her memory is at best unreliable, while images that might be memories from the past keep surfacing. Her husband wants her to move on, forget the questions about the past, and build their new life together. Police detectives Wyatt Foster and Kevin Santos suspects her accidents aren't accidents, and Thomas is an abusive husband.
But as Nikki's memory returns, in bits and pieces, she's not letting the questions go, and she's not talking to anyone about why. Not to Thomas. Not to Foster and Santos. And not to Tessa Leoni, the investigator she hired over Thomas's objections, and who called her on the evening before her crash, the phone call that sent her racing out into the rainy night to her crash.
We gradually get to know Nikki Frank, and slowly discover just how complicated her relationship with Thomas Frank, and her own past, is. Who is Vero? Is she Nikki's lost child? An imaginary friend? Something more sinister? Where did Nikki and Thomas really meet, and what are their real names?
Meanwhile, Wyatt Foster and Tessa Leoni are having issues in their own relationship, and Wyatt isn't sure what they are, because Tessa isn't talking, either. She's gotten some potentially alarming news from Boston P.D. detective D.D. Warren. Can their relationship survive?
The character development of both the new characters and the ongoing ones is well done and satisfying, and Gardner keeps us guessing about what's really going on with the Franks right to the very end.
Very satisfying! Highly recommended.
I bought this audiobook.
Show More
Vero.Some of this is true.
Nikki Frank has just had her third concussion in six months, and her memory is at best unreliable, while images that might be memories from the past keep surfacing. Her husband wants her to move on, forget the questions about the past, and build their new life together. Police detectives Wyatt Foster and Kevin Santos suspects her accidents aren't accidents, and Thomas is an abusive husband.
But as Nikki's memory returns, in bits and pieces, she's not letting the questions go, and she's not talking to anyone about why. Not to Thomas. Not to Foster and Santos. And not to Tessa Leoni, the investigator she hired over Thomas's objections, and who called her on the evening before her crash, the phone call that sent her racing out into the rainy night to her crash.
We gradually get to know Nikki Frank, and slowly discover just how complicated her relationship with Thomas Frank, and her own past, is. Who is Vero? Is she Nikki's lost child? An imaginary friend? Something more sinister? Where did Nikki and Thomas really meet, and what are their real names?
Meanwhile, Wyatt Foster and Tessa Leoni are having issues in their own relationship, and Wyatt isn't sure what they are, because Tessa isn't talking, either. She's gotten some potentially alarming news from Boston P.D. detective D.D. Warren. Can their relationship survive?
The character development of both the new characters and the ongoing ones is well done and satisfying, and Gardner keeps us guessing about what's really going on with the Franks right to the very end.
Very satisfying! Highly recommended.
I bought this audiobook.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Carlathelibrarian
I really loved this book. It was a typical, can't put it down, plot twisting Lisa Gardner book. Nicky Frank goes crashing down a ravine in her SUV. When she comes too, she frantically starts looking for her daughter, Vero. As the police search and even bring in a canine searcher, it becomes
Show More
apparent there was no one else in the car. Nicky does not remember the accident or her husband when he shows up at the hospital. He reports that she has never had a child and that Vero exists only in her mind. It is also reported that she has traumatic brain injury from her third concussion in 6 moths. Wyatt Foster has a feeling that something is not right and when they run the fingerprints from the SUV, they discover that Nicky is a missing child from 30 years earlier. As Nicky's memory comes back, there are many twists and turns in the story. Does she have a split personality? Who is Madame Sade? How did she and Thomas meet? A great story to keep you on the edge of your seat with a surprising twist of an ending. Show Less
LibraryThing member jothebookgirl
Frankie recommendsReview: Former police officer, now Private investigator, Tessa Leoni must work to solve the most perplexing mystery of a woman searching for her lost child … except her husband claims no such child never existed. This is the second book in this series by Lisa Gardner but the
Nicky Frank has been drinking while driving. She ran her car off the road where it nose-dived into a steep ravine. She managed to free herself from the car, clawed her way up a ravine, and flagged down a driver by yelling for help and pleading with someone to look for and find her five year old daughter, Vero. When the police came, an intensive search was conducted. Even a search dog was brought in, but no signs of the child were found. In the meantime, Nicky had been taken to the hospital where her blood was tested positively for alcohol, treated for assorted cuts, scrapes and a concussion. When Thomas, her husband of twenty-two years arrived, he told the officers that this was the third severe accident Nicky had had in the past six months. She had fallen twice, once down a flight of stairs. Because of the three accidents, her brain was injured and Nicky was having false memories and fantasies. He assured them that they did not have a child. There was no Vero. But how does one seemingly otherwise healthy woman wind up with three critical accidents in such a short time span? The forts suspect is always the spouse. Was the car accident truly an accident? Or maybe it was Nicky trying to end her life. But could it have been attempted murder? If so, could Thomas have had a part in it? Nicky has problems answering many of the questions asked of her. But when she is coherent enough to answer, her recollections appear to be more truthful than imagination or fantasy. This causes the police to dig deeper and deeper into this twisted mystery.
Lots of twists, but I did find the ending a bit confusing.
Show More
book is a stand alone read.(The character was first introduced in one of the author's other series, Love You More featuring detective D. D. Warren.)Nicky Frank has been drinking while driving. She ran her car off the road where it nose-dived into a steep ravine. She managed to free herself from the car, clawed her way up a ravine, and flagged down a driver by yelling for help and pleading with someone to look for and find her five year old daughter, Vero. When the police came, an intensive search was conducted. Even a search dog was brought in, but no signs of the child were found. In the meantime, Nicky had been taken to the hospital where her blood was tested positively for alcohol, treated for assorted cuts, scrapes and a concussion. When Thomas, her husband of twenty-two years arrived, he told the officers that this was the third severe accident Nicky had had in the past six months. She had fallen twice, once down a flight of stairs. Because of the three accidents, her brain was injured and Nicky was having false memories and fantasies. He assured them that they did not have a child. There was no Vero. But how does one seemingly otherwise healthy woman wind up with three critical accidents in such a short time span? The forts suspect is always the spouse. Was the car accident truly an accident? Or maybe it was Nicky trying to end her life. But could it have been attempted murder? If so, could Thomas have had a part in it? Nicky has problems answering many of the questions asked of her. But when she is coherent enough to answer, her recollections appear to be more truthful than imagination or fantasy. This causes the police to dig deeper and deeper into this twisted mystery.
Lots of twists, but I did find the ending a bit confusing.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Lauren2013
Crash & Burn
3.5 Stars
On a dark and deserted stretch of road in a raging storm, Nicole Frank not only survives a horrendous crash, but manages to climb a ravine in search of help for the young girl she insists was in the car with her. However, a subsequent search yields no sign of the missing child,
An intriguing premise with likable characters. Unfortunately, the pacing is problematic; the twists and turns are predictable and there is little to no progression for Tessa's character.
To begin with, this is classified as book #3 in the Tessa Leoni series. However, Tessa's actual role in the story is minimal at best and most of the narrative is presented from Wyatt Foster's 3rd person POV with some chapters from Nicky Franks 1st person POV.
The mystery revolving around the search for a missing girl and the revelations stemming from the investigation into Nicky's past are very compelling. That said, most of the details that emerge are quite obvious, and the pacing is choppy with excessive internal musings and unnecessary repetition of plot points.
In terms of Tessa's personal storyline, she is now in a relationship with Wyatt and readers are given no information on how this came about following the events of the previous book. There is also a possible threat to her now peaceful life, but this is completely underdeveloped and as Gardner has not announced whether the series will be continuing, the reader is left up in the air.
On a final note, the dual male/female narration of the audiobook is alright although the male narrator sounds childish when narrating the female characters and often comes across as condescending.
All in all, an entertaining psychological thriller, but not one of Gardner's better works.
3.5 Stars
On a dark and deserted stretch of road in a raging storm, Nicole Frank not only survives a horrendous crash, but manages to climb a ravine in search of help for the young girl she insists was in the car with her. However, a subsequent search yields no sign of the missing child,
Show More
and Detective Sergeant Wyatt Foster is even more baffled when Nicky's husband explains that she suffers from confusion as a result of a rare brain injury. So who is Nicky and why did her car go off the road? Are her recent accidents random or is someone trying to kill her?An intriguing premise with likable characters. Unfortunately, the pacing is problematic; the twists and turns are predictable and there is little to no progression for Tessa's character.
To begin with, this is classified as book #3 in the Tessa Leoni series. However, Tessa's actual role in the story is minimal at best and most of the narrative is presented from Wyatt Foster's 3rd person POV with some chapters from Nicky Franks 1st person POV.
The mystery revolving around the search for a missing girl and the revelations stemming from the investigation into Nicky's past are very compelling. That said, most of the details that emerge are quite obvious, and the pacing is choppy with excessive internal musings and unnecessary repetition of plot points.
In terms of Tessa's personal storyline, she is now in a relationship with Wyatt and readers are given no information on how this came about following the events of the previous book. There is also a possible threat to her now peaceful life, but this is completely underdeveloped and as Gardner has not announced whether the series will be continuing, the reader is left up in the air.
On a final note, the dual male/female narration of the audiobook is alright although the male narrator sounds childish when narrating the female characters and often comes across as condescending.
All in all, an entertaining psychological thriller, but not one of Gardner's better works.
Show Less
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2015-02-03
Physical description
480 p.; 4.31 inches
ISBN
0451475682 / 9780451475688
Other editions
Similar in this library
Hide by Lisa Gardner